Rise and Rebel
by Lady Cinderbella
Summary: It is the year 667 H.E. Tortall has been defeated by the untied armies of Scanra and Carthak. Tortall is now the country, Scanthaki. Corus and Tyra are two girls, enslaved by the Scanthakians. They are the lifeblood of Tortall. They must rise and rebel.
1. Prologue The Story So Far

Prologue - The Story So Far  
  
Tortall prospered during the reign of Jonathan IV and Thayet. The Scanran War had ended, and the crops began to flourish. Trade thrived, and there had been another five applications for girl pages, after Keladry of Mindelan began a Knight. But while all this was happening, Scanran and Carthaki had made an alliance, and were plotting their revenge against Tortall.  
  
It was the year 510 H.E, and Scanra and Carthak had been plotting away unnoticed for nearly forty years. Both King Jonathan and Thayet had passed away, thankfully to old age, and were replaced by their son Roald, and his wife from the Yamani Islands Shinkokami. They had a son, Jonathan V, who was now seven years old, and a four-year-old daughter, Leanora. For the past two years, there had been a draught in some areas of Tortall, and food was becoming sparser.  
  
It was at this time, when Tortall was weakened, that Scanra and Carthak came in for the kill. Like a vice, they came at Tortall from the north and south, killing hundreds as they came. King Roald was forced to divide his army, who had become lazy over the uneventful years. Most of the army was annihilated, leaving the country unprotected against the hungry invaders. All those who the Scanrans and Carthakis did not kill, they enslaved. The invaders swept through the country like an advancing tidal wave, until both sides reached Corus.  
  
Surrounded by thousands of invaders, Corus had no choice but to surrender. Scanra and Carthak had united, and became one huge country they called Scanthaki. The Scanthakians forced all those still living in Corus watch the public execution of their King Roald and Queen Shinkokami, aswell as Prince Jonathan V, who had just turned nine. In other parts of Tortall, they killed all the noblemen and women, yet there was someone of royal blood who was missing. Princess Leanora.  
  
Leanora had been rescued by one of the Queens lady-in-waiting, Saraah, and together they were smuggled out of Corus and taken aboard a ship to the Yamani Islands. By now, Tortall was no more, and the Scanthaki's ruled all. The Yamani people were forced to bow down to them, aswell as the people from the Copper Isles. Scanthaki made the Island countries pay them huge taxes, and the people grew very poor.  
  
Leanora forgot she was a princess at all, but a refugee from Tortall. She had grown up to believe her Mothers lady-in-waiting, Saraah, was her Mother. When Leanora turned fourteen, Saraah told her the truth about her parentage, and the fact she was the last living descendant of Tortall's royal family. Saraah told Leanora never to tell anyone but her sons and daughters, if she had any, when they were fourteen, to keep the lifeblood of Tortall still flowing.  
  
Leanora married a Yamani farmer when she was twenty, and had one son, Edmund, who when he turned fourteen was told the truth - that he was the last Prince of Tortall. Leanora died when Edmund was fifteen, to the Crimson Fever, which swept over all the lands and killed thousands. Edmund traveled back to Scanthaki, where Tortall once was, and buried his Mother by the sea.  
  
Edmund was found by Scanthaki soldiers, who took him to the nearest fief, owned by Lord Ilsuman, and there he was enslaved, and made to work Lord Ilsuman's fields. He married another Tortall slave by the name of Irene, and the line of Tortall continued.  
  
Now it is the year 667 H.E. The royal family of Tortall is still living. A man named Roald, great grandson of Edmund works upon Lord Malgur's fief (once Lord Ilsuman's) and has two daughters, Corus and Tyra, named after the two cities before Scanthaki took power. Corus is thirteen, and Tyra eleven, still too young to know their heritage. This is their story, and the rebirth and rebellion of Tortall!  
Don't know how you'll like this one! Please review and tell me!! Thanks for reading, -Lady Cinderbella 


	2. Chapter 2 Corus

Chapter 2 - Corus  
  
Corus woke early, stretching her tired, bony arms as she struggled to rise from her bed. How she would love to fall back into her thin straw mattress and lie there, letting her thoughts run free. Freeing herself from her life of misery. But Corus had determination. She had a spirit that would not let her give up.  
  
Outside the sky was dark, and filled with bloated storm clouds. Corus shivered, and pulled her dress of rags tightly around her. Barefooted she trudged from her room, or if you could call it a room - the ground was just compacted, dry earth, and the wood walls around it were covered in mould and filth. A thin mattress, with straw poking out from its threadbare cover was in the far corner of the tiny room. Beside it was another mattress, for Corus' sister, Tyra.  
  
Corus reached the kitchen of her squalid home, and stared hungrily into the cupboards on the west side of the wall. All she could find was two rolls of stale bread, four onions, two bruised tomatoes and a bag of oats covered with weevils. Her belly rumbled hungrily as she tore a chunk of bread off, and gnawed at it. After she had finished, she slipped into a bare of shoes, whose soles had been tied back onto the shoe with course string, and traipsed her way into the fields outside.  
  
The fields stretched for a long way into the distance. The Lord of the fief, Lord Malgur, owned all of the fields, while the slaves were forced to work on them. The slaved Tortallan people lived in small huts, scattered around the rolling farmlands. Corus' belly rumbled, and she clutched her stomach. Her family barely had enough to eat, now that Lord Malgur's taxes were so high.  
  
Already, her sister Tyra, and her Father Roald, were working the fields. Corus said a quick hello to them, before she made her way to the barn where the cows were kept. Already some of the other peasants were there, milking the Lord's cows, and cleaning out his stables. Corus grabbed a stool nearby and set about milking a healthy looking cow.  
  
Even the Cows are better fed than us! Corus thought darkly, as she brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes.  
  
After the cows were milked, Corus went down to the well. Thunder grumbled ominously in the distance, promising rain. Corus began to scoop up some water, and as she did so, she stared down at her reflection.  
  
Corus' sun browned face was gaunt, and she had big bags under dove grey eyes. Her long, wavy hair was the colour of ebony, and plaited in two messy loops, framing her face. Her dress was a patchwork of rags, some faded blue, and others dirty brown and pale yellow. She tried to smile, but her lips cracked and began to bleed.  
  
"Corus?"  
  
Corus turned to see her sister, dressed in the same sort of poor clothing as herself. Tyra's long black hair was plaited in one long line down her back. Her face was covered in freckles like a scattering of cinnamon, but she was very thin and scrawny with long legs and knobbly knees.  
  
"Father wants to speak to us. I fear he isn't well. In fact, he's gotten much worse since yesterday." she trailed off as tears formed in her eyes, "I think he is dying."  
  
Corus stared at her sister in disbelief. Her Father dying? It couldn't be! He had been a bit unwell the day before, but never close to death!  
  
"Come on." Corus said, grabbing her sister's hand, as they charged up hill to their small hut.  
  
Corus ran into her Fathers room. He was lying on a thin bed of straw, wheezing loudly.  
  
"Father?" Corus said nervously, creeping forward, afraid of what she might see.  
  
"My beautiful daughters." Roald coughed, and Corus was shocked to see blood dribble from his mouth, "There is one important thing to say before I, I pass away."  
  
"No." Corus breathed, sitting on her Father's bed. Tyra followed timidly behind.  
  
"Yes." Roald smiled sadly, "You are the lifeblood of Tortall."  
  
"Tortall? That was the country before Scanthaki, wasn't it?" Tyra asked, as she grabbed her Father's calloused hand.  
  
"Yes. Corus and Tyra were once two cities in Tortall, before the Scanthaki's came. Your great, great, great grandfather was the King of Tortall - King Roald. I was not meant to tell you before you were fourteen, but I am dying."  
  
Corus and Tyra looked at each other in shock. But the believed their Father's words.  
  
"No, Father you will live, and we will together come back and create Tortall. We will free the slaves and, and." Corus whispered, blinded by tears.  
  
Her Father shook his head in resignation, "You and Tyra will bring back Tortall. My time is over, but I know you will succeed. Rise and rebel, my daughters, Tortall still lives." Roald died then, and as he lay unmoving in his bed, his spirit soared above him, and went to join the Black God, watching from afar his beloved daughters, Corus and Tyra. 


	3. Disaster

"We escape tonight." Corus said the words with determination, staring over the rolling fields. At her elbow, stood Tyra, clutching her bony arms for warmth. Both were dressed in rags, with an iron wristband around their wrist, to show they were slaves to Lord Malgur.  
  
Corus instructed, "We must first report to old Prend, but after that, we'll go straight through the north fields of barely, till we reach the walls. Of course, there'll be guards and what not, but with a bit of luck, we'll manage."  
  
Prend was in charge of the North field slaves, and every dusk, he would record how much work each of the slaves had done, and any other detail there was. He would also collect the daily tax, to give to his fat, greedy Lord.  
  
Corus and Tyra waited in a long line, before Prend, who sat in a chair before a neat desk. It was outside, just below the barn, and the slaves shivered in their thin, ragged clothing.  
  
"Roald, Corus and Tyra." Prend called out after a while, in his thin, reedy voice.  
  
Corus approached the small, thin man, dressed in fur, and sipping a cup of steaming liquid.  
  
"Where is your father?" he demanded sharply, when he noticed the girls were alone.  
  
"He is dead." Corus said softly, without an expression on her face.  
  
"Fine, I will check this matter afterwards. Work?" Prend said without a care, as if he were commenting on the weather. Tyra could not stand this anymore. All her life she had been starved and oppressed, and now her father, as well as her beloved Mother were dead, and no one cared.  
  
"We did our work!" Tyra cried in fury, "We worked from when dawn arrived, till the sun set. We worked till our arms were about to drop off, and when our backs creaked and twinged, and when the blisters on our hands popped, and till our feet were bloodied and bruised! That's all we ever do! Work for foul Malgur, while he sits, and watches and eats and."  
  
"Stop that now!" Prend screamed, jumping from his chair, "Or I'll call the guards!"  
  
"No, I won't stop! The injustice of it all! The injustice of it all! We are born, we work, we starve, we die! And you don't even care."  
  
"Tyra! Stop it, please" Corus cried, tugging on her sisters sleave.  
  
"Let me be, Corus. I know who I am! But you don't have a clue, do you, Prend? My people are strong, they withstand the harsh blows you give us. Why? Why? TELL ME WHY?" Tyra had worked herself into hysteria, screaming and crying at the same time. Prend was yelling at the top of his voice for the guards, and Corus was pulling desperately at her younger sisters sleeve.  
  
"Tyra! Tyra! Hush! The guards will come!"  
  
"I am not afraid anymore, Corus! I'm sick of being beaten, and pushed aside! I'm sick of living in fear and poverty! I'm sick of this stupid place! I need to go!"  
  
That's when the guards arrived. That's when Corus' life came crashing down.  
Please review, I love to hear you comments! Thanks! 


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